Clayton Kershaw overwhelmingly won the National League CY Young Award yesterday with 27 out of a possible 32 first place votes. The other 5 voters listed Kershaw 3 times for second place and twice for third place. The CY Young Award is voted on by 2 writers from each city that has a team (the specific writers are chosen by the Baseball Writer’s Association of America). Since the National League has 16 teams, there were 32 ballots cast. Most baseball pundits expected Kershaw to win but for the voting to be much closer than it actually was. Kershaw joins an amazing list of Dodgers to have won the CY Young Award over the years; Don Newcombe (1956), Don Drysdale (1962), Sandy Koufax (1963, 1965 and 1966), Mike Marshall (1974), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Orel Hershiser (1988) and Eric Gagne (2003).
NL CY Young Voting (Courtesy of the BBWAA.COM website):
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers – 27 first place votes 207 points
Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies – 4 first place votes 133 points
Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies 90 points
Ian Kennedy, Arizona Diamondbacks – 1 first place vote 76 points
Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies 17 points
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants 7 points
Yovani Gallardo, Milwaukee Brewers 5 points
Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants 3 points
John Axford, Milwaukee Brewers 2 points
Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves 2 points
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants 1 point
Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco Giants 1 point
Top 5 Vote Getters 2011 Season:
Kershaw – 33 GS, 5 CG, 233.1 IP, 248 K’s, 21-5 record, 0.98 WHIP, 2.28 ERA
Halladay – 32 GS, 8 CG, 233.2 IP, 220 K’s, 19-6 record, 1.04 WHIP, 2.35 ERA
Lee – 32 GS, 6 CG, 232.2 IP, 238 K’s, 17-8 record, 1.03 WHIP, 2.40 ERA
Kennedy – 33 GS, 1 CG, 222 IP, 198 K’s, 21-4 record, 1.09 WHIP, 2.88 ERA
Hamels – 31 GS, 3 CG, 216 IP, 194 K’s, 14-9 record, 0.99 WHIP, 2.79 ERA
How often do you see so many great pitching stat lines in the same season? It truly has become a pitching renaissance in baseball! To win the CY Young Award amongst such heavy competition can only mean Kershaw’s season was top notch! And it was; he led the NL in Wins, K’s, ERA, WHIP, opponent’s batting average (.207), lowest OPS against (.554) and pickoffs (9). He was 2nd in winning percentage (.808), quality starts (25), K’s per 9 innings (9.57), and third in IP, CG and finally K to BB ratio (4.59). Not too shabby!
The startling young 23 year old Kershaw also won the fabled old school “pitcher’s triple crown” (Wins, K’s and ERA), while pitching for a .500 team (82 –79 record). Pretty impressive! That would make him the youngest CY Young winner since Dwight “Doc” Gooden at the tender age of 20 way back in 1985. Let us hope Kershaw’s career track turns out differently than Doc’s did!
But, why didn’t Kershaw win unanimously? Are there any real arguments for someone else to have won instead of Kershaw? Halladay came in second in the voting, so let’s compare the two…
The average fan can understand discussing one player’s team playing for the postseason (as Halladay’s Phillies did) when the other player’s team did not (as Kershaw’s Dodgers did not). Should pitching for a team playing meaningful games weigh extra? Also, the average fan probably understands pitching in different divisions. The NL West included two of the weakest offensive teams in all of baseball, the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres. Kershaw simply dominated those two teams in his 9 starts against them (going 8-0!), while Halladay only faced the Padres for 2 starts. Big difference! Finally, every fan understands the concept of pitching in a “pitcher’s ballpark” (Dodger Stadium) versus pitching in a “hitter’s ballpark” (Phillies’ Citizens Bank Park). Kershaw’s mother must not have raised a dummy as Clayton Kershaw took full advantage of his home field, where he went nuts posting a 12-1 record with the major’s lowest ERA at home with a 1.69!
A few of the more modern baseball analysts also insist there were arguments to be made, especially for Halladay. Halladay had another robust season and, either tailed Kershaw by the slimmest of margins, or led Kershaw, in every basic statistical category that matters. But when using the newest (and most popular) advanced stats such as WAR (Wins Above Replacement) or FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), the modern analysts point out that Halladay comes out way on top!
But just hold on here…
Maybe one day, when those advanced stats become widely accepted and mainstream, I will agree that Halladay should have won the 2011 NL CY Young Award. But until then I will stick with my personal pick Clayton Kershaw. I happen to think the award is for the best individual pitching season, not necessarily the most valuable one. And Kershaw performed at the top of his game when he was supposed to! Isn’t that the true sign of being a mature winning pitcher?
Just a quick aside here, how crazy is it for the Phillies to have 3 of the top 5 vote getters? Turns out its not unheard of at all, having happened twice since 1998! The 2005 Houston Astros had Roger Clemens, Roy Oswalt and Billy Wagner while the 1998 Atlanta Braves had Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
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